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1957 NFL Championship Game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1957 NFL Championship Game was the 25th annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), held on December 29 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Detroit
Location in the United States
Detroit
Location in Michigan
The Detroit Lions (8–4), winners of the Western Conference in a playoff the previous week,[7] hosted the Cleveland Browns (9–2–1), champions of the Eastern Conference. Detroit had won the regular season game 20–7 three weeks earlier on December 8, also at Briggs Stadium, but lost quarterback Bobby Layne with a broken right ankle late in the first half.[8][9] Reserve quarterback Tobin Rote, a starter the previous year with Green Bay, filled in for Layne and won that game with Cleveland, the next week at Chicago, and the tiebreaker playoff game at San Francisco.[7]
It was the fourth pairing of the two teams in the championship game; they met previously in 1952, 1953, and 1954. The Browns, idle the previous week, were favored by three points,[10][11][12] but the home underdog Lions scored two touchdowns in each quarter and won in a rout, 59–14.[2][3][4][5][6]
Until 2006, this was the last time that major professional teams from Michigan and Ohio met in a postseason game (or series) in any sport. This was the last NFL playoff game played in the city of Detroit other than Super Bowl XL until 2024 as the Lions' other two home playoff games prior (1992 and 1994) were at the Silverdome in suburban Pontiac. This also remains as the Lions' fourth and most recent league title and most recent championship appearance (including the Super Bowl) as of 2025, starting a sixty-eight year championship drought for the Lions, which is currently the fourth-longest championship drought in the four major North American sports leagues.[13]
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Starting lineups
Hall of Fame‡
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Players in the Hall of Fame
Of those listed above, Lions' QB Bobby Layne was injured earlier in the month and did not play, and future Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Henry Jordan was a rookie for the Browns.
Game summary
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The home underdog Lions were without starting quarterback Layne due to a broken ankle three weeks earlier against the Browns.[8][9][10] Backup quarterback Tobin Rote filled in admirably following Layne's injury, winning every game, including a 24-point rally in the tiebreaker playoff over the 49ers the previous week.[7] In his eighth season, Rote threw four touchdown passes in the title game, completing 12 of 19 passes for 280 yards, and also ran for a touchdown. Browns quarterbacks Tommy O'Connell and Milt Plum, on the other hand hit on a combined total of 9 of 22 passes for 112 yards. Taking full advantage of a pass interception and a fumble, Detroit ran up a 17–0 lead in the first quarter. Rookie running back Jim Brown gave the Cleveland rooters some hope with a 29-yard touchdown run at the start of the second period.
Things went from bad to worse for the Browns, hampered by injuries to quarterbacks O'Connell and Plum. The Lions romped for 14 points in each of the last three quarters,[3][14] and won by 45 points, 59–14.[2][3][4] In their final six quarters of play (including their previous divisional playoff), the Lions outscored their opponents 83–17.
Scoring summary
Sunday, December 29, 1957
Kickoff: 2:00 p.m. EST[10]
- First quarter
- DET – FG Jim Martin, 31 yards, 3–0 DET
- DET – Tobin Rote 1-yard run (Martin kick), 10–0 DET
- DET – Gene Gedman 1-yard run (Martin kick), 17–0 DET
- Second quarter
- CLE – Jim Brown 29-yard run (Lou Groza kick), 17–7 DET
- DET – Steve Junker 26-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 24–7 DET
- DET – Terry Barr 19-yard interception (Martin kick), 31–7 DET
- Third quarter
- CLE – Lew Carpenter 5-yard run (Groza kick), 31–14 DET
- DET – Jim Doran 78-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 38–14 DET
- DET – Junker 23-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 45–14 DET
- Fourth quarter
- DET – Dave Middleton 32-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 52–14 DET
- DET – Howard Cassady 17-yard pass from Jerry Reichow (Martin kick), 59–14 DET
Officials
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The NFL had five game officials in 1957; the line judge was added in 1965 and the side judge in 1978.
Players' shares
The gross receipts for the game, including radio and television rights, were just under $594,000, the highest to date. Each player on the winning Lions team received $4,295, while Browns players made $2,750 each.[3][4]
Lions' last title
The Lions have not appeared in an NFL championship game (including the Super Bowl) since this title 68 years ago. It was their last postseason appearance until 1970, and their last postseason home game and victory until 1992.
1992 was also the first time the Lions advanced as far as the NFC Championship game, losing the NFC Championship Game 41–10 to the Washington Redskins, who went on to win Super Bowl XXVI. They would advance to the NFC Championship game again 32 years later in 2024, where they would fall to the San Francisco 49ers 34–31 after leading by as many as 17 points, which is the closest the Lions have ever gotten to a Super Bowl to date.
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Video
- Daniel G. Endy (ed.), "Detroit Lions vs. Cleveland Browns in Football's World Championship: Part 1," Earl Gillespie and Chris Schenkel, narrators. YouTube.com | Part 2
See also
References
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